The present invention is directed to the administration of a computer network, particularly the administration of a network of servers, and provides a dynamic method of affecting change to the configuration of the servers.
Administering large numbers of distributed database servers is a complex task comprising several dimensions.
One dimension of administrative complexity is the sheer magnitude of administered servers. That is, complexity is inherent in keeping track of, and dealing with, a great many things. When each such managed entity possesses unique characteristics or attributes, another layer of complexity, the second dimension, is introduced. Such identifying characteristics can be considered static in nature. That is, they define the managed entity, e.g. a network address, and tend not to change over time. However, there are states of operation or configuration that are dynamic, eg., creating, modifying, or deleting database objects managed by a server. That is, the act of administration will move a server from one state of configuration to the next. Indeed, non-administrative acts can alter the configuration of a server, sometimes rendering it""s state unknown or unusable. This aspect of administrative complexity is the third dimension.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a dynamic system and method of affecting change to the configuration of servers in a network of administered servers having at least one control server.
The present invention provides for the simplification of server administration in this complex environment by controlling each dimension in a systematic way. First, the complexity embodied by the first two dimensions can be characterized as the difficulty in managing large numbers of different things. In a sense, this is the static aspect of administrationxe2x80x94accounting for, and awareness of, all the many entities under management. Second, which is the dynamic aspect of management, is concerned with affecting change to the configuration or state of each of the many managed entities. Although the managed entities are not identical, it is assumed there exist collections of different entities which share xe2x80x9csimilarxe2x80x9d configurations. In this way, grouping can be used to reduce the many to a few. By managing a group of similarly configured servers, instead of managing each individual server, complexity is reduced. The invention provides a system and method for effecting a change of state to a group of a large number of similarly-configured, but not necessarily identical, managed entities in a controlled, simplified way is the essence of this invention.
One aspect of the invention provides an improved data processing system having an administrative control server; an administrative control database, connected to said administrative control server; and at least one group of servers having similar, but not necessarily identical, configurations adapted for communication with the administrative control server for administrative control thereby, in which the control server can change the configurations of the administered servers to a new desired configuration for each administered server where the new configuration is in synchronization with the configuration of each of said other administered server, by generating synchronization instructions from parameterized synchronization scripts stored in the control database.
Other aspects of the invention provides software and methods for said improved data processing system